Around the World in 80 Dresses

There are coats to keep you warm, coats which match a dress and coats for special occasions. The grey flannel coat with ample rhinestone applications at the sleeves comes from a shop in Singapore specializing in French prêt-à-porter vintage. You needn’t wear an expensive dress as the coat is absorbing all the attention. The embroidered black piece from parory in India is more a tunic than a coat. So, it asks for matching slacks and a top to go underneath.  I found the coat in a shop of Cape Town’s pitturesque fishing village Kalk Bay on a visit to The Court Yard Café , a charming little restaurant on the Main Road facing the harbour and run by the daughter of my friends. © holmespj, Harbour, fishing boat, pixabay The hand woven linen coat with an ethnic touch made by Giwa vyed for my attention in Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand. It goes well with skinny jeans. Their shape hints at tight Asian pants and their material tones down the ethnic look. © jenn...

The sarong with a tightly fitted blouse used to be the everyday outfit all over South-East Asia. Now, it has given way either to Western fashion like in Thailand or to Islamic attire like in Malaysia and Indonesia. The sarong and blouse or kebaya (see post Betty's Kebaya, June 24) is often reserved for ceremonial events or for women working in the tourist sector.   Only the Buddhist country Myanmar and Bali, the Indonesian Buddhist province, are holding on to the tradition of beautiful sarongs. You just have to look at Myanmar’s political icon Aung San Suu Kyi and you can see how becoming this uniform is.     Have you ever tried to row a boat while standing on one leg only? The fishermen on the Inle Lake in Northern Myanmar are performing this acrobatic act every day. I took a boat on this beautiful lake to visit the Khit Sunn Yin Lotus Weaving Centre perched on stilts over the waters. The Lotus weavers still practice hand weaving for traditional sarongs....

India is the land of colours not least due to the wonderful saris Indian women are wearing so gracefully. I showed some of my collection in post Le Pays des Couleurs on June 26, already. One can find beautiful selections of saris not only in India but wherever Indians live. Many are living in South East Asia and in Africa.  The unusual brown one I found in Singapore. I have adorned it with the mask of king Rama's consort Sita. Images from the Ramayana, one of the two great Indian epics from the past spread all over Asia. The green sari comes for Port Louis in Mauritius. The kangas of Zanzibar and the capulanas of Mozambique are relatives of the saris. They come in two colourful pieces, one to cover the body and one as scarf for head and shoulders. The East African women are playing skilfully with these two pieces of cloth. There is a mood  for hiding and one for revealing. Some like to make a statement and put on a kanga with a ...

Le pays des couleurs /The Land of Colours was a childrens’ book my daughter got for her French lessons when she was a litte girl. There the grey earth was gradually occupied by colours, the green frog, the yellow butterfly, the red rose. In a sari shop in India I feel like entering this magic country. I prefer living in colour said David Hockney and moved from his native Bradford in England to sunny and colourful California. So do I. I like black and white, grey and maroon every now and then, but I somewhat pity Parisian girls who seem to think they have to wear black and grey exclusively as a sort of fashion code. We forget that we also wore colourful suits and dresses not long ago. Even the men did. Look at 18 th and 19 th century paintings with their silk in gorgeous pistachio green, dove blue and pastel pink. Francois Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, © Alte Pinakothek, München, info@pinakothek.de Wherever Indians live there is colour. I sample Sari shops from Dur...

My Maharajas have come to France to conquer not only me but some other fashionistas at Bordeaux. The beautiful town at the Gironde can certainly profit from a dose of bright Indian colour. The settlement of wine merchants is a symphony of mellow beige from the sandstone they built their houses with and subdued blue-grey from river and sky.     My Maharajas were created in Spain     by Paloma S. and her brand nice things . The most chic boutiques are to be found in the old streets around the cathedral St. André. Bordeaux had always a quite international outlook as the Bordeaux wine was and is exported all over the world. Speaking of colours, a shopping tour in Bordeaux is never complete without a lunch or dinner in one of the many pittoresque little restaurants enjoying a bottle of dark red or a white Bordeaux or the street art like Antony Gormley ’s Jedermann populating the historic streets and squares. 

While Christopher Columbus failed to discover India and landed instead in the Caribbean I managed to find a trace of India on the island Marie-Galante, which Columbus had named after his caravelle Santa Maria la Galante. The idyllic spot in the blue, blue sea belongs to Guadeloupe and is still a part of France. Amazingly enough the French cling to this tiny archipelago as one of their overseas provinces. French is spoken, baguette is sold and one enjoys a delicious mixture of spiced seafood and French cuisine. I was there on a home exchange trip and had the most splendid view to the Laguna on the main island from my host's terrace. Fashion on the island is all about pareos for the beach and brightly coloured kaftans. On the main road of Marie-Galante I discovered a lovely boutique cum seafood restaurant owned by two elegantly French looking sisters specializing in ware from India. The charming sisters did their best to convince me that I could not do wi...